Thursday, 8 October 2015

Massive sale at the Galactic dealership!

Last night I was engaging Imperial forces in a galaxy
far, far away. I'd assembled a vast fleet of three Rebel Alliance ships to take
on the Dark Side. Yes, it was time for X-Wing!

It's been a while since I last played X-Wing so Darth Pate
(of Wee Blokes) and I arranged a casual game for our regular week night gaming
session. With nothing prepared and both of us a wee bit daunted by the array of
miniatures I'd displayed for our choosing we decided to just play a simple 100
point head-to-head game.

I'd forgotten how many X-Wing miniatures I'd accumulated and
it felt like we were both visiting a vast star-ship dealership before the game,
perusing the merchandise whilst Watto
the Toydarian junk dealer hovered close by offering, 'For you, very special deal!'

The Galaxy's Finest Dealership

I decided to go with a YT-2400 light freighter piloted by
a gurgling Nautolan called Eaden Vrill, mostly because it looked cool and I
hadn't used one before. Although it took me a while to figure out the front, as
it seemed to resemble a flying door wedge. I accessorised with a Heavy Laser Cannon, hired a dude with an impressive looking CV who claimed to be a Tactician, and a cluster of, erm, Cluster Missiles.

As I still had a healthy balance of Standard Galactic
Credits left, Watto managed to offload a second-hand A-Wing which allegedly had one previous owner,low parsecage' and was now piloted by a captain
Tycho Celchu who claimed to be from a peaceful wee planet called Alderaan. The captain
talked me into buying a batch of Proton Rockets.

Finally, I was expertly relieved of my last few remaining Galactic Credits by hiring a rather dishevelled
and frankly dodgy looking pilot who muttered something about a Bandit Squadron,
but was very effusive about his wee fighter that he said was a Z-95 Headhunter.

It didn't look that menacing, given its title. Could of at least had some
skulls painted on it. Anyway, resigned to my fate I added Homing Missiles to
the bill, which Watto was already gleefully ringing up.

So, the scenario had me out for a run with my new squadron as we ran into Darth
Pate and his Imperial Pirates. After Eaden Vrill had punched the freighter's scanner control a few times, it stayed on enough to identify a quartet of TIE fighters rapidly vectoring on our position - including a Phantom and an
Advanced TIE - with disquieting tags like 'Backstabber, Howlrunner, Whisper' .

Over the comm-link, Tycho most helpfully suggested they were probably after the
freighter. What a genius. The Heavy Laser Cannon was deployed
and soon my Rebel squadron, such that it was, were engaging the Imperials.

I just knew I'd been fleeced by that miscreant Watto, as the
dodgy Bandit Squadron pilot thought he was being crafty by allowing the Rebel freighter
and Tycho's A-Wing to take the heat whilst he held back in his Headhunter.
Well it was soon his head that was hunted as he was soon caught in a well
executed pincer from the Advanced TIE and the Phantom, the latter finishing him off
with a celebratory barrel-roll.

The Rebel Z-95 Headhunter losing it's head

With the lumbering freighter and Tycho's escorting A-Wing
now re-orientated on another attack run, the freighters 360 degree Heavy Laser
Cannon chipping away at the weak Imperial shields, Tycho's little A-Wing loosed the Proton Rockets. A Tie imploded. One down, three more to go.

The Rebels Strike Back

Tycho's celebratory whooping over the comm was suddenly
cut off as his ship was hit by a crippling blast from the Advanced TIE that had
used its superior speed and manoeuvrability to quickly turn and ambush the A-Wing. The
rebel YT-2400 freighter was now alone.

The Rebel A-Wing takes a crippling hit

Vrill desperately tried to wring every measure of
available power from the Freighter engines, unloading the entire arsenal
of Cluster Missiles at the Phantom Tie heading directly towards it. The
tactical computer showed the first batch of missiles totally missing the agile
Phantom but the second batch hit home. The Phantom was down!

The Imperial Phantom cannot escape Cluster Missiles

With a splinter of hope, Vrill punched the engines to max
but the freighter was too slow. With it's shields decimated and hull mangled,
alarms ringing all over the ship, the remaining standard Imperial TIE pilot
angled in fast and finished off the forlorn freighter.

View from the Battleshed Barracks

Welcome!

This is my irreverent and occasionallyindulgently narrative journal of my tabletop wargaming and board game misadventures.

A chronicle of my complete lack of generalship marshalling wee miniatures across space and time.

I dabble in most aspects of our hobby - fantasy, SF, historical and everything in between. I moan about my endless scenery and painting projects and I'm not afraid to turn household junk into remote bastions against the Dark Hordes...

The Battleshed

I'm lucky to have a large man-shed, easily accommodating a 8'x4' gaming table, where my fellow wargamers can relax and unleash their armies - regardless the weather outside and the spider count inside!